Scene made to look like rape, court told

A 14-year-old boy who battered, choked and drowned a girl also ripped off her clothes to fool police into thinking she had been raped, a jury has been told.

Afterwards the boy, charged with the murder of Liberty Templeman, 15, allegedly helped her frantic friends and family search for her.

The trial of the boy, whose identity is protected by extensive court suppression orders, began in the High Court at Whangarei yesterday.

Liberty's body was discovered face-down in a creek in Kerikeri on November 1, 2008.

The Crown alleges she had been beaten unconscious, choked, indecently assaulted then left to die in the creek. The accused denies the charges.

Crown prosecutor Mike Smith said in his opening address that Liberty had arrived in Kerikeri on October 31 planning to spend the weekend with friends.

Her family, originally from England, had recently shifted from the town to Auckland and she was excited about catching up with old friends.

Liberty had spent Saturday at a barbecue before leaving with the accused to visit a friend.

"By Saturday afternoon she would have been beaten till she was unconscious, her body would have been exposed with her clothing pulled away, she has been dragged to a small stream on the outskirts of Kerikeri and left face-down to drown," Mr Smith told the court.

"She would remain in that stream for nearly 24 hours until her body was discovered by police."

An autopsy revealed bruising to her head, eyes and nose, a cut lip, and scratches and bruises on her back and buttocks from when she was dragged to the creek. Cause of death was determined to be drowning.

It is alleged that while Liberty was unconscious, the accused ripped off her clothes, breaking her buttons and bra straps, and exposed her breasts and genitals.

The boy said to police he had done that to make it look like she had been raped and deflect suspicion from himself, the court was told.

Afterwards he biked to his family home and spent the next day helping Liberty's friends and family search for her.

The next day he told police he had last seen Liberty walking toward the school and had left her to be home for curfew.

For nearly a week he told police, in repeated interviews, he had not been involved in her death.

Later he changed his story, saying Liberty had a nose bleed on the day she went missing, which he had helped her clean up with tissues.

Eventually police executed a search warrant on his family home and found a plastic bag containing a T-shirt with Liberty's blood on it.

On November 7, he admitted to the attack, Mr Smith said.

Yesterday afternoon, one of Liberty's friends took the stand.

"She was a beautiful, really bubbly person who was always really happy," he said.

More than 50 witnesses are expected to be called during the three-week trial.

- © Fairfax NZ News